Apple Unveils New tvOS – 6 best features coming to the Apple TV

Apple has announced a (surprisingly small) update to the Apple TV and accompanying tvOS at WWDC 2016. Here’s everything you need to know.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. tvOS progress

Eddy Cue, Senior VP of Internet Software and Services, took to the stage to kick off proceedings, saying: “We now have over 1,300 video channels, and we have over 6,000 native apps.”

2. New remote app

Cue went on to announce a new version of the Apple TV remote app that basically mimics the existing bundled Siri Remote. It lets you touch to navigate, offers Siri for commands, and lets you use the accelerometer and gyroscope to play games. Siri lets you universally search through 650,000 movies and TV shows, and even on YouTube – she can even search by genre.

Apple’s new Apple TV remote app

3. Single Sign-on

Software boss Cue also announced a new feature called ‘Single Sign-on’, which lets you set up a number of popular apps (HBO, ESPN, ABC, etc.) without forcing you to log onto a separate website to authenticate your device. That’s a big feature that rival service Roku doesn’t offer. There’s also support for four controllers now – wahey!

4. Live Tune-in

Apple’s tvOS is also getting a new feature called Live Tune-in. This will let you use Siri to quickly navigate to live programming streams, but only from select networks – ESPN and Disney were named.

5. Dark Mode

There’s now a dark mode built into tvOS too. Normally, the Apple TV grid has a bright white background, but this will darken with the new mode, presumably to save your eyes from pain when navigating tvOS late at night or in a dark room.

Apple’s new Dark Mode for tvOS

6. App syncing

Apple has also added a synchronisation feature that lets your iPhone and TV talk to each other about which apps are installed. In short, if you have a specific video app or game on your iPhone, and a TV version of that app exists, it’ll automatically install on the Apple TV.

Unfortunately, there was little else announced. If you were hoping for big tvOS news, you’re probably feeling a little disappointed right now. That sucks. But on the bright side, there’s plenty for you to read about regarding Apple’s new macOS Sierra.

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Tell us what you think of Apple’s WWDC 2016 keynote in the comments below.